Heidelberg, Germany, June 6, 2012 / B3C newswire / - How can strategic alliances between leading health innovation hubs in Europe and Israel cross-leverage their international competitiveness? This was one of the questions that were discussed on June 5, when representatives of the Israeli Weizmann Institute and the German-Israeli Economic Association (D-I-W) met with key researchers and industry leaders from the life-science clusters in Leuven, Belgium, and Heidelberg, both representing the pan-European Health Axis Europe alliance. The meeting was followed by a gala dinner at the Heidelberg castle with such distinguished guests as Theresia Bauer, Science Minister of the Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, and Tibor Shalev Schlosser, consul general of the State of Israel.

As an external member and director of the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics, Professor Daniel Zajfman, President of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rechovot, is closely linked to Heidelberg. The Weizmann Institute itself has been involved in collaborative research and development with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) for many years. Daniel Zajfman: "In modern scientific research, it is much harder to anticipate what will be the next discovery than to predict who is the scientist who will make that next discovery." He emphasized the importance of scientific excellence and international collaboration. “The Health Axis Europe alliance between Cambridge, Leuven and Heidelberg holds great potential for outstanding health science, education and entrepreneurship,” he stated.

Hildegard Müller, President of the D-I-W, underlined in her dinner speech the importance and benefits of German-Israeli collaboration: “Germany and Israel share much more than just a tragic history. We are constantly learning from each other, and we all benefit from our collaboration in our own countries as well as in third markets. This is particularly true in the knowledge-intensive field of high technology. Research collaboration has helped us to bridge the gap between us. And it can also pave the way towards a responsible, sustainable and joint future.”

The statements were supported by Minister Bauer, who concluded: “We are pleased to see our BioRN cluster in Heidelberg among the drivers of the Health Axis Europe initiative. The big health challenges of our ageing society can be addressed only by strong international research consortia, and outstanding Israeli innovation hubs such as the Weizmann Institute are particularly welcome to participate.”

About the D-I-W

The German-Israeli Economic Association (Deutsch-Israelische Wirtschaftsvereinigung e.V., D-I-W) was established in 1967 with the aim of fostering the special relations between the two countries and peoples through economic cooperation.
The German-Israeli Economic Association offers advice and practical support when it comes to business development between German and Israeli partners. Over 150 leading German and Israeli companies have joined the network. Hildegard Müller, CEO Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW), is the German-Israeli Economic Association's chairman; the Israeli ambassador to Germany serves as chairman of the advisory board.

The BioRN Cluster Management GmbH is a public-private partnership between the BioRN Network, the Heidelberg Technology Park, the Rhine-Neckar Chamber of Commerce and the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (MRN). It is charged with the coordination, integration, development and marketing of the Biotech Cluster Rhine-Neckar (BioRN) - one of the leading life-science clusters in Europe. The cluster includes renowned academic research institutions such as the University of Heidelberg, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), and about 80 small and medium-sized biotech enterprises, as well as large pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies such as Roche Diagnostics (Mannheim), Merck Serono (Darmstadt) and Abbott (Ludwigshafen).
The BioRN Cluster Management is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg.